Changing Reels Episode 7 – The Midnight Swim

Sarah Adina Smith’s The Midnight Swim is not a film that can easily be summarized. At its core it is a family drama about the connection between three half-sisters and their mother who has mysteriously gone missing. However, it also features elements from the found footage genre, a wonderful musical number, a shawl that is downright creepy, and deep questions about the transcendent nature of death. Needless to say there is a lot to chew on in this episode. We also discuss our short films picks of the week: Donato Sansone’s Journal Anime and Ben Brand’s Life is Beautiful.

Andrew’s note: shortly after Donato Sansone’s Journal Anime was featured on Short of the Week, and after Courtney and I were able to view and discuss it, all available versions of it online have been made private. Sorry for the inconvenience, and for those still interested you can find the remnants of the initial post we discussed here.

We also discuss Kurt Halfyard’s interview with Sarah Adina Smith that can be found at Screen Anarchy.

Cohost of Changing Reels, Courtney Small from Cinema Axis, consumes everything cinema from big budget spectacles to small foreign fare. He has contributed pieces to various publications and has been a guest on several film related podcasts. Courtney is a member of the Online Film Critics Society and the Canadian Association of Online Film Critics.

Cohost and Editor of Changing Reels, Andrew Hathaway from Can’t Stop the Movies, is more of a hermit than his charming cohost. He spends what may be seen as an unhealthy amount of time analyzing cinematic fare as light as Magic Mike XXL and as enigmatic as The Midnight Swim. When he’s not taking a deep dive into cinema he’s contributed to books like Thoughts on The Thin Man. The partnership between Andrew and Courtney started through their podcast series on the movies of Denis Villeneuve and blossomed into Changing Reels.